This report was designed to respond to two major methodological shortcomings in the item bias literature: (1) misfitting test models; and (2) the use of significance tests. Specifically, the goals of the research were to describe a newly developed method known as the "plot method" for identifying potentially biased test items and to…

The condition of higher education for Hispanic Americans and Latin Americans is addressed in 12 papers from the 1983 Conference on Latino College Students. Attention is directed to the transition from high school to college, Hispanic student achievement, and economics and stratification. In addition to forewords by Gregory R. Anrig and Arturo…

The National Commission on Testing and Public Policy is conducting a 3-year policy-oriented investigation of the role of tests, especially standardized, norm-referenced tests, in the allocation of educational, training, and employment opportunities in the United States today. This document reports on the first hearing, which focused on the…

While the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (Public Law 94-142) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 first established the basic framework for determining the rights of handicapped students, both the courts and Congress are continually interpreting and changing the standards. The eight papers included in this…

This paper discusses the sociolinguistic problems inherent in multilingual testing, and the accompanying dangers of cultural bias in either the visuals or the language used in a given test. The first section discusses English-speaking Americans' perception of foreign speakers in terms of: (1) physical features; (2) speech, specifically vocabulary,…

The South's rural high schools, particularly their vocational education programs, reflect the history, social relationships, attitudes, and values of the region. Competitive and competency examinations eliminate large numbers of students from advancement to more intensive academic work or vocational skills training. Many students from poor…

Recognizing the importance of a curriculum that facilitates the acquisition of desirable, affective work competencies (work attitudes, values, and habits) as well as specific job skills, a study was conducted to review and synthesize what is known about the social and psychological aspects of work and to identify specific affective work…

Numerous strategies have been used throughout the years to test cultural groups. This paper grew out of the need to find and use standardized tests that would depict accurately the performance of various cultural groups in America. In order to make judgments about performance, it is wise to examine the theoretical structure from which most of the…

The purpose of this report is to: (1) summarize the attempts that have been made to define and investigate test wiseness, particularly those efforts made at teaching test wiseness; (2) identify gaps and deficiencies in the existing body of research; (3) make recommendations as to the direction that future research in this area should take; and (4)…

This invitational conference was convened to report the principal findings of a six-year study of possible sources of bias in the prediction of job performance. The research was conducted jointly by Educational Testing Service and the U.S. Civil Service Commission, supported by the Ford Foundation. Data were gathered on test and job performance of…

Focusing on one of the critical questions in the shift to new forms of assessment, researchers, policymakers, and teachers met at the 1993 Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) to consider equity in assessment. The opening remarks of CRESST co-director Robert Linn stressed that equity is at the center of…

This practicum was designed and implemented to reduce the underrepresentation of minority students in gifted programs, and to help minority students improve their academic achievement in Westmoreland County, Virginia. The practicum involved examining the gifted student nomination/identification process to see if instruments or procedures were…

The effects of test content reflecting black or white culture, on the performance of college-bound students of both races was examined. Eighty-five culture-specific items were developed for use in the English Usage and Social Studies Reading subtests of the ACT (American College Testing) Assessment Program. Items were administered as four separate…

The criterion-oriented problem of test bias and fairness in selection is compared to the construct-oriented problem of comparability of test scores in cross-cultural research. These problems are shown to have important similarities, and their studies may supplement each other. In a formulation of psychometric criteria for the comparability of test…

This symposium consists of five papers and presents some recent developments in adaptive testing which have applications to several military testing problems. The overview, by James R. McBride, defines adaptive testing and discusses some of its item selection and scoring strategies. Item response theory, or item characteristic curve theory, is…